Posted on 01/04/2019 10:48:24 AM PST by nikos1121
A 2018 survey of employers across the U.S. found that 5% are considering removing marijuana from their workplace drug testing panel in the next 12 months[1]. Perhaps more frightening is the number of employers who are on the fence about the removal of marijuana from their panels – a shocking 23% of employers from the same survey. At first glance, removing marijuana from the panel may seem like a good idea – but is it really?
Aren’t There Pros to Removing Marijuana From my Testing Panel?
Undoubtedly, an employer could identify pros in deciding to stop testing for marijuana in their workplace. The removal of marijuana might bring down the costs of drug testing – with fewer marijuana positives comes faster hiring and positions fill quicker.
Perhaps the biggest perceived pro to dropping marijuana from workplace drug testing is the freedom that employers have to hire more workers. The most common complaint seen in the media about workplace marijuana testing is that it rules out an ever-growing class of potential employees. An associate professor of economics, Abigail Wozniak, recently stated:
(Excerpt) Read more at currentcompliance.org ...
That’s precisely my point.
The whole rationale for imposing testing in the first place was workplace safety.
But if you don’t test for ALL substances, you may as well test for none.
How would that protect against liability any less than a pre-employment screen for marijuana?
“So why is the impairing drug alcohol rarely if ever tested for?”
I worked in a JAG unit & conducted drug separation boards & asked the same question. The lawyers replied that alcohol is not an illegal substance; only its abuse is actionable.
Of course, what you’re saying is completely false. They have expanded panels, and there are states that publish opioid use.
DOT testing now includes the designer drugs, and since they started drug testing truck accidents are way down.
I’m seeing the most abuse with the legal prescribed opioids.
Cocaine use, is associated with annual costs to employers on average of over $24,000, probably higher, as that’s an old number. theft, injures, loss time, absenteeism, etc.
Marijuana in the end will add additional burden on our society, as did smoking.
Baby boomers grew up with these drugs, and with mood altering pills. And when you have politicians on the drugs, they’re legalized.
Marijuana may not be as bad coke and meth, but it’s not going to result in a positive effect on our country.
Because many companies will consider you impaired, if you blow at or above .04% on an alcohol screening after an injury. An insurance company will fight like the dickens to negate the claim.
This is fact, not my fantasy.
So why is the impairing drug alcohol rarely if ever tested for?
I worked in a JAG unit & conducted drug separation boards & asked the same question. The lawyers replied that alcohol is not an illegal substance; only its abuse is actionable.
That adds up - but lends no support to the original claim, above.
How would that protect against liability any less than a pre-employment screen for marijuana?
Because many companies will consider you impaired, if you blow at or above .04% on an alcohol screening after an injury.
We were talking about pre-employment screens.
“...the Pothead jihad on FR...”
Heh, heh!
;^)
In the real world, I’m talking about the real world, if you are injured at work, and you test positive for an illegal substance, blow at or above .04% ethanol, the worker’s comp carrier will fight the claim.
Will the attorney take the case, and try to defend his client, claiming that THC in the urine does not prove impairment, of course, and he may win the case, but more times than not, he will not win the case, esp if we’re talking about a serious high dollar injury.
Any company therefore NOT testing for inmjuries is dumb.
“...you’ve had a beer for lunch, and then you take a pre-employment exam...”
What kind of fool does that?
because if you have federal contracts or receive federal monies you may lose it if your employees test positive.
I see this in the construction field.
been wondering about people in Education, state government ...s
for “....Education, state government …” if its not there their budgets are cut!
Every drug except cannabis is flushed from the system as fast as alcohol. If someone is being tested they simply wait or say they cannot urinate that moment.
There is no panel that includes the millions of possible designer drugs and all the new ones that are being made every month. If someone is randomly tested, they can simply use these more dangerous designer drugs instead of the safer known ones.
There is no test for people who abuse various legal Rx and OTC drugs. I.e. if you abuse cough syrup or sleep meds it will not come up on a test. There is no test for people who sleep poorly or work too many hours.
Working too hard and being sleepy if far more impairing than cannabis yet nobody is screaming to test or outlaw commuting for late shifts.
And your point is? Federal drug testing or any drug testing is not a 100% fool proof method, and it was never sold as such.
Good to see the neo-prohibitionist brigade is still out in force, having learned nothing at all from history.
It is a waste of time and money since it does little to catch the worst drugs. I’ve met countless abusers of hard drugs who laugh about how easily they can pass drug tests. It’s not rocket science. They simply wait a little.
Mostly it is just plain disgusting to demand professionals pee in a cup without any accidents or issues. I still cannot believe Americans allowed it
You’d be surprised.
They drove down wages with mass immigration (illegal and legal) so Americans couldn't afford the luxury of turning down a job.
I hope if I ever have to pee in a cup, it's without any accidents. ;-D
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